After filing a complaint against Veritaseum CEO Reginald Middleton and his two companies in August 2019, the SEC said that it is engaged in settlement talks with the defendants, fintech publication FinanceFeeds reports on Oct. 9.

According to the report, the regulator filed a motion to adjourn the initial conference at the New York Eastern District Court earlier in October. Following the motion, the court reportedly agreed to reschedule the conference for Nov. 14, 2019.

$14.8 Million Raised Through Unregistered Securities

As previously reported, Middleton and his firms, Veritaseum, LLC and Veritaseum, are alleged to have raised $14.8 million by using material misrepresentations and omissions about the unregistered securities they offered — digital assets called Veritaseum (VERI) tokens, also known as “Veritas.”

According to the report, the defendants conducted their Veritaseum initial coin offering (ICO) between April 25, 2017 and May 27, 2017 and also offered post-ICO sales.

Multiple charges

The SEC’s complaint includes multiple accusations against the defendants, including misleading investors about the firm’s prior business venture, claimed outsized investor demand for VERI as well as the potential to generate millions of dollars of revenue.

However, no such products existed, the SEC reportedly claims, adding that the defendants engaged in manipulative trading in VERI Tokens to increase their price and to convince investors to buy more tokens.

Moreover, Middleton allegedly attempted to rebrand VERI in order to avoid the federal securities laws and registration requirements by trying to give them the status of “pre-paid fees,” “software” or even gift cards-based derivatives.

At press time, VERI is the 226th largest crypto asset with a market capitalization of $35 million, according to CoinMarketCap. After the SEC requested to freeze the defendants’ related assets on Aug. 12, VERI saw a sharp drop from $16 per token to as low as $4.30 on Aug. 13. However, the token has seen notable growth since then. At press time, VERI is up 26% over the past 24 hours to trade at over $17, also seeing a whopping gain of nearly 45% over the past seven days.

Updated: 11-1-2019

NY Court Orders Veritaseum To Pay Back $8 Million From Illegal ICO

The CEO of Delaware-registered blockchain firm Veritaseum LLC and New York-registered Veritaseum Inc., Reggie Middleton, was ordered to pay $8.4 million in disgorgement, according to a new court order.

Additionally, Middleton is liable for a civil penalty of $1 million, fintech publication FinanceFeeds reported on Nov. 1, citing a court order issued on Oct. 31.

According to the report, a judge at the New York Eastern District Court has approved a motion for a consent judgment in a securities fraud case against several defendants involved in Veritaseum. Specifically, the defendants are jointly liable for disgorgement of $7,891,600, which represents a part of illegally earned profits as well as prejudgment interest amount of $582,535.

Moreover, the report states that the defendants will not be allowed to engage in any offering of digital security, in accordance with the court order.

Middleton Asks The Court For More Time To Respond To The Complaint

The case was first brought up by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in mid-August 2019 when the authority filed a complaint against Middleton as well as two of his firms.

In the document, the SEC alleged that the entities were responsible for an unregistered $14.8 million initial coin offering from late 2017 to 2018 and requested a U.S. District Court to freeze the defendants’ assets.

On Oct. 9, the SEC entered settlement talks with Veritaseum, reportedly rescheduling the initial conference at the New York Eastern District Court for Nov. 14, 2019. Since Oct. 9, Veritaseum (VERI) has dropped about 37% from $24 to $15 per coin at press time, according to Coin360.